Timpana, freshly baked pastizzi, a bottle of Kinnie or a simply a pint of Cisk? Kristina Chetcuti finds out what type of food and drink we most crave for when we’re away from home, and why we miss it so much.

Pastizzi and Kinnie are always missed by Maltese living abroad. Photo: Matthew MirabelliPastizzi and Kinnie are always missed by Maltese living abroad. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

When I lived away from Malta, I used to covet black mulberries. Not the picture perfect ones which I used to find in supermarkets, but the squashy, juicy ripe tut that you buy from Marija ż-Żabbarija at the market and that leave ink marks on your fingers and stain your teeth like a pirate’s.

There is always a particular food item that we miss most when we are abroad.

A straw poll revealed that the classic items Maltese people crave when staying for long away from home are: Kinnie, pastizzi, Twistees and freshly caught fish.

However the longer the stay, the more detailed the craving gets. Davinia Hamilton, who lives in London, does not just miss the ħobz biż-żejt, she even dreams of the context it has to be eaten.

“Most of all, what I miss is a still warm ħobża with tomatoes and oil, with a bit of tuna and garlic and olives and pepper and sea salt. To be eaten by the sea in summer and everything smells of olive oil until you rinse your hands in the salty sea,” she said.

It is sometimes not the food in particular that migrants miss, but rather the several meanings associated with it

So although on bleak winter nights, home food can lift the spirits, at times it can be pointless to buy the ingredients and recreate the home food that you miss – because a minor thing like the sound of waves lashing against the rocks, or the unbearable summer heat, would be the missing ingredient.

Sometimes different countries can make you pine for different home food.

“When I was studying in Australia I would have killed for ross il-forn; when I lived in Scotland I craved capers, God knows why,” said businesswoman Claudine Cassar.

For most expatriates the yearning for food is directly linked to the person who cooks it. “I miss my mother’s octopus stew,” said Rowena Azzopardi, who lives in Luxembourg.

UK resident Carlo Laurenti said that he often longs for octopus in garlic, bigilla, stuffed olives and Aunty Nen’s food – “Can you please mention her cooking, as it’s the thing I miss most,” he said.

“I miss my dad-in-law’s ricotta pie and lampuka pie,” said Donna Bonnici, who also confessed shyly that she also misses Champ’s pizza from round the corner to her house.

Pastizzi were top favourite among many expatriates. However, Luxembourg-based Ian Zammit argued that while “somehow or other”, you can make pastizzi, “some things you cannot recreate”, such as broad beans.

“You rarely find ful here and when you do it’s the size of chick peas (ċirca).”

Ludvic Azzopardi Ferrando, also based in Luxembourg, has been on a mission to try and find the equivalent of Maltese bread on the continent – but so far has not managed. “There’s nothing like fresh Maltese bread.”

Cultural historian Noel Buttigieg told The Sunday Times of Malta that food could throw light on how the migrants try to reintegrate their past with the present and build an identity.

“The smell, taste and touch of food helps the migrant speak of ‘home’,” said Mr Buttigieg, who is also the Convivium Leader of Slow Food Malta.

He recalled the award-winning movie Il Postino, where an old woman informs the postman about the home-made pickled capers she packaged to send to her son in the United States. In reaction, the postman replies: “He will be pleased.”

“The identification of different types of food as a medium that generates historical consciousness is indicative of how humans use food to remember,” Mr Buttigieg said.

First off, he said, food allows migrants to reconnect and remember experiences and places that they have left behind. Secondly, the association of particular products with Malta suggest that objects can shift levels of identity when experienced in new contexts, becoming a symbol not just of home or local places, but of countries and perhaps regions.

“Food becomes a means to generate an imagined community. The act of consuming ‘Maltese’ food while away from the island resembles the sharing of ‘home’ with other family members and friends,” Mr Buttigieg said.

“Against this background, it is sometimes not the food in particular that migrants miss, but rather the several meanings associated with it.

“Food has a lot of significance as an object that triggers recollections of the past, then the context which motivates memory recall takes precedence over the food itself.”

So next time you are sitting at airport, waiting for a flight back home, you are perfectly allow yourself to dream about that peppered ġbejna or the stuffed artichokes or the Maltese ricotta and plan where you will eat it.

But keep in mind, before the proper taste of home you’ll have to contend with the foil-wrapped tray of airplane food.

Top food we miss when we’re away from Malta

Kinnie
Twistees
Pastizzi
Ħobz biż-żejt
Freshly baked bread

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